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LIBRARY 

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University  of  California. 


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Social 


Struggle 


Capitalist  Contradictions  Exposed; 
Socihlism  Defined. 

itbhsity]     ^ 

'^   *'«        U7LLMyW   BDLIN. 

"  The  t^oletariat,  the  lowest  stratum  of  our  present  society,  cannot  stir,  cannot  raise  itself 
up,  without  the  whole  super-incumbent  strata  of  official  society  being  sprung  in  the  air." 

— Karl  Marx. 

"  The  ladder  up  which  mankind  has  been  climbing  toward  civilization,  the  ever  more 
powerful  tool  of  production,  is  the  storm  center  around  which  the  modern  social  storm  rages. 
"  The  capitalist  class  seeks  to  keep  it  for  its  own  exclusive  use. 
"  The  middle  class  seeks  to  break  it  down,  thereby  throwing  civilization  back. 
"  The  proleteriat  seeks  to  preserve  it  and  improve  it,  and  open  it  to  a.\V— Daniel  DeLeon. 


PRICE,    S    Cents. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1897, 
BY  William  Edlin, 

IN  T^B  office  of  THE  LIBRARIAN  OF  CONGRESS,    AT   WASHINGTON. 


JyyW 


UPTON   BROS..  PH'M 


"  Well!  food,  clothes,  and  housing— those  are  the  three  important 
items  in  the  material  condition  of  men;  and  I  say  flatly  that  the  contrast 
between  those  of  the  non-producers  and  those  of  the  producers  is  hor- 
rible, and  that  the  word  is  no  exaggeration."— PF///?am  Morris. 

"  And  I  too,  love  Peace,  but  not  the  peace  of  Slavery."— Z?a«/<>«. 


Society,  to-day,  is  confronted  with  a  great  problem  —  it  is  the 
problem  of  life.  It  is  more  deeply  human,  more  socially  vital  than 
any  other  universal  question  recorded  in  the  history  of  thought. 
The  problem  of  to-day,  succintly  stated,  is:  How  to  secure  the 
happiness  of  the  many^ 

The  great  Russian  scholar,  Lfto  Tolstoi,  says:  "  Men  cannot 
imagine  life  without  the  desire  for  happiness.  To  live  is  for  every 
mai  the  same  thing  as  to  desire  and  to  attain  bliss;  to  desire  and 
to  attain  bliss  is  synonymous  with  living." 

But  the  average  life  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  is  at  present 
far  from  being  happy;  it  is  just  in  a  miserable  condition  diametrically 
opposed  to  happiness.  Instead  of  being  an  enjoyment  it  is  a  burden! 
And  why  ?  Because  the  path  that  leads  to  the  attainment  of  happi- 
ness, is  obstructed  by  monstrous  economic  evils,  by  a  dragon  called 
Competition,  and  by  a  demon  known  as  Wage-Slavery. 

We  have  at  present  reached  a  high  stage  in  the  development  of 
the  human  race,  a  stage  in  civilization  which  we  may  be  proud  of. 
■With  our  present  inventions  and  discoveries,  which  enable  us  to 
control  nature;  with  our  continual  progress  in  science  and  moral 
philosophy,  the  life  and  happiness  of  every  human  being  ought  to 
have  been  assured.  But,  alas!  Instead  of  utilizing  thcs^  unlimited 
opportunities  and  uniting  in  brotherly  co-operation  reaching  every 
member  of  society,  every  individual  is  ready  at  any  moment  to  cut 
his  fellow -sufferer's  throat  in  order  to  assure  his  meanest  possibility 
of  living;  thus  converting  civilization  into  a  state  of  anarchy  and 
confusion. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  society  to-day  produces  more  commod- 
ities than  it  can  consume  ;  the  genius  of  man  having  brought 
industry  and  agriculture  to  such  a  high  state  of  development,  that 
it  takes  a  single  man  only  a  few  hours  to  produce  necessaries  of  life 
for  one  day.  But  the  reason  why  the  workingmen  have  to  toil  from 
early  morning  till  late  in  the  evening  in  order  to  earn  a  living  is, 
that  only  a  part  of  the  population  work,  while  another  part  rob  them 
of  their  produce  and  live  on  it  in  idleness. 


Very  often,  when  we  reach  one  of  the  critical  periods  in  present 
society  when  everything  comes  to  a  stand-still,  we  hear  men  attribute 
the  hard  times  to  "Overproduction."  Does  not  such  an  assertion 
seem  very  curious  to  the  enlightened  mind  ?  How  explain  the  fact 
in  spite  of  there  being  a  superJfluous  abundance'of  corn  at  all  times, 
there  are  people  who  have  nothing  to  eat  ?  How  attribute  the  star- 
vation, the  nakedness,  the  utmost  wretchedness  of  the  Great  Many 
to  the  fact  of  there  being  an  overproduction  of  the  good  things  of 
this  earth  ?  Such  a  solution  of  the  problem  might  be  called  the 
most  ludicrous  if  it  were  not  the  most  pathetic  contradiction  of  the 
present  epoch.  And  the  miserable,  destitute  Great  Many,  the  suf- 
fering deluded  bulk  of  humanity  is  the  producer  of  all  wealth  —  the 
workingman. 

Not  a  Hugo,  who  with  such  masterly  skill  has  drawn  a  Jean 
Valjean,  neither  Dickens  nor  Zola,  is  able  to  draw  an  adequate 
picture  of  the  sufferings  of  that  class.  They  who  do  all  the  working, 
are  starving  for  the  very  things  they  have  produced;  they  are  starv- 
ing because  they  are  legally  robbed  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor  by  a 
gang  of  drones. 

"  There  is  room  for  us  all  on  the  broad  bosom  of  the  earth;  it  is 
rich  enough  to  enable  us  all  to  live  in  comfort.  It  can  yield  sufficient 
harvests  to  provide  all  with  food;  it  produces  enough  fibrous  plants 
to  supply  all  with  clothing;  it  contains  enough  stone  and  clay  for  all 
to  have  houses.  There  is  a  place  for  each  of  the  brethren  at  the 
banquet  of  life.     Such  is  the  simple  economic  fact.  "     * 

But  the  workingmen  of  to-day  are  hungry;  they  die  from  want  of 
proper  food,  clothing  and  shelter,  which  are  essential  to  the  existence 
of  every  human  being.  They  are  surrounded  by  plenty  of  every- 
thing, but  as  all  opportunities  to  get  those  things  are  withheld  from 
them,  their  only  alternative  is  to  lay  down  and  die  in  the  midst  of  a 
Christian  (?!)  city,  the  center  of  a  civilized  nation. 

"  Civilization  promised  the  toiling  masses  of  the  world  the  lift- 
ing of  its  weary  burdens.  It  has  not  kept  its  promise.  American 
civilization  promised  most  of  all.  Its  lips  were  roses.  It  promised 
to  all  men.  There  is  disappointment.  A  country,  whose  products 
will  nourish  a  billion  of  men,  whose  machinery  will  supply  the  planet, 
— scarce  sixty  million  on  its  soil,  a  million  (five  million  at  present  ) 
of  men  begging  for  the  privilege  to  earn  their  bread.  That  is 
civilization  with  a  vengeance!  "     f 

Indeed,  this  is  civilization  with  a  vengeance  ! 

But  must  such  an  order  of  things  exist  always  ?  Must  the 
Workers  sink  from  day  to  day,  from  year  to  year,  till  they  become  a 
prey  to  themselves,  till  they  are  degraded  to  a  state  of  beasts  ?  Is 
there  no  hope  for  a  better  society  ? 

*    "  Evolution  and  Revolution  "  by  IJlisee  Reclus. 

t    " The  Masses  and  the  Millionaires."    A  lecture  delivered  by  William  J.  Armstrong, 
before  the  Oakland  Nationalist  Club,   May  26,  18y0. 


Our  journalists,  lawyers,  politicians  and  all  those  who  occupy 
the  pulpit — the  mental  prostitutes  of  present  society — tell  us  that  the 
poor  we  must  always  have  with  us»  But  the  rational  thinker,  the 
calm  philosopher,  the  modern  proletariat  thinks  otherwise.  The 
boundless  resources  of  nature,  increased  by  science  and  developed 
by  modern  machinery,  would  have  provided  every  human  being 
with  the  necessaries  and  pleasures  of  life,  were  it  not  for  the  dis- 
organized state  of  society. 

Thanks,  to  the  genius  of  man,  the  nineteenth  century  is  an  ag:e 
of  material  progress.  More  machinery  was  invented  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  present  century  than  during  the  eighteen  hundred 
years  that  preceded  it.  The  discovery  and  practical  application  of 
electricity  stimulated  the  civihzed  world  to  such  a  degree,  that  it 
must  result  in  the  downfall  of  the  existing  tottering  institutions,  and 
the  establishment  of  a  new  social  order. 

There  are  certain  wants  to  which  every  human  being  is  sub- 
ject ;  wants  that  everyone  must  satisfy  in  order  to  be  happy. 
Therefore,  as  these  wants  act  and  re-act  upon  each  member  of  socizty, 
it  is  the  duty  of  society  as  a  whole  to  regulate  the  production  and 
distribution  of  the  necessaries  of  life  in  such  systematic  order,  that 
fewer  hours  be  spent  in  producing  and  more  time  in  enjoying  them. 
We  must  devote  a  great  part  of  our  time  to  the  development  of  our 
intelect,  which  alone  can  bring  happiness  to  man.  It  is  after  the 
development  of  our  intellect,  that  we  are  able  to  understand  the 
sublime  beauty  and  grandeur  of  life;  it  is  then  only  that  we  begin 
to  rise  above  the  animal  and  become  moral  beings. 

The  proper  application  of  the  mechanical  powers,  at  the  dispo- 
sal of  present  society,  could  supply  all  mankind  with  the  necessaries 
of  life  at  a  very  small  cost  of  labor.  Instead  of  continually  being 
surrounded  by  starving  and  desperate  faces,  we  might  only  see 
happy  and  smiling  ones.  Instead  of  a  great  number  of  people  living 
in  hovels  that  are  neither  good  for  the  health  nor  pleasing  to  the  eye, 
we  might  have  large  marble  palaces  with  all  the  necessary  accommo- 
dations which  should  reflect  the  intelligence  and  the  genius  of  the 
human  race.  Instead  of  having  a  great  body  of  discontented 
workers,  threatening  violence  at  any  moment,  we  might  have  a 
peaceful  and  orderly  body  of  citizens.  Instead  of  having  a  society 
divided  into  rich  and  poor,  privileged  and  oppressed,  we  might  have 
a  society  of  free  and  equal  men. 

There  is  no  reason  why  society  could  not  organize  itself  in  such 
a  way  as  to  best  attain  this  purpose.  The  rich,  the  well-to-do,  do 
not  trouble  themselves  with  such  questions.  They  are  happy  at 
present,  and  self  interest  prevents  them  from  taking  part  in  such  a 
re-organization  of  society. 

But  the  poor,  the  suffering,  the  miserable,  the  propertyless,  the 
homeless — where  are  they?     Where  are  those,    whom  the  present 


system  has  stripped  of  all  their  possessions  and  deprived  of  the  means 
of  a  livelihood  ?  Where  are  the  degraded  ones,  that  undesirable  ele- 
ment of  present  society  ?  Where  are  the  wronged  ones,  those  forlorn 
wretches  who  wander  from  place  to  place  and  can  find  no  rest,  no 
shelter  ?  Where  are  those  women  whom  this  system  has  driven  to 
a  life  of  shame  and  degredation,  who  were  lured  by  the  gold  of 
those  who  robbed  their  fathers,  brothers,  and  husbands  ?  Where 
are  they  all,  these  unfortunates  ?  Why  do  they  not  come  together 
and  organize?  For  when  "  they  have  but  the  will  to  do  it,  that 
very. moment  will  justice  be  done;  that  very  instant  the  tyrants  of 
the  earth  shall  bite  the  dust." 

During  the  last  century,  many  plans  and  schemes  were  brought 
forward,  with  the  intention  of  curing  the  evils  of  society.  The  men 
who  advanced  those  schemes  were  honest  in  their  intentions,  in- 
telligent and  philanthropic.  But,  though  honest,  they  were  neverthe- 
less ignorant  of  the  real  cause  of  the  general  misery  that  surround  us. 

Moved  by  the  poverty  and  degredation  of  the  poor,  they  under- 
took the  task  of  curing  certain  evils  by  legislating,  by  charity  and 
by  preaching  morals;  but  to  their  bitter  disappointment,  they  fa'led 
to  accomplish  anything. 

Certain  causes  produce  certain  effects,  and  this  simple  fact  was 
ignored  by  all  reformers,  hence  their  failure.  One  cannot  do  away 
with  certain  effects  without  removing  the  causes  that  produce  them. 

Society,  as  it  is  to-day,  cannot  be  reformed;  it  must  be  trans- 
formed. To  remove  the  causes  of  all  the  evils  that  surround  us, 
means  to  remove  the  root,  the  foundation  upon  which  present  society 
is  organized  and  upon  which  the  present  institutions  rest.  To  ac- 
complish this  great  task,  is  not  within  the  scope  of  philanthropic 
reformers. 

These  reformers  are,  as  a  rule,  sentimentalists,  and  history  proves 
that  no  great  change  was  ever  accomplished  by  sentimentalists.  We 
must  have  men,  resolute  men,  broad-minded  men,  far-sighted  thinkers, 
who  understand  the  inside  and  outside  of  the  present  system  and  can 
discover  the  fundamental  causes  that  produce  the  terrible  effects. 
The  only  way  to  eradicate  the  evils  of  the  present  social  system  is 
to  strike  deep  into  the  root  of  its  foundation. 

At  all  times,  in  the  written  history  of  mankind,  society  was 
divided  into  a  number  of  antagonistic  classes.  But,  at  no  other 
time  were  the  class  antagonisms  so  simplified  as  to-day.  The  present 
system  splits  society  into  two  hostile  camps,  into  two  great  amies 
arrayed  against  each  other, — Capitalists  and  Workingmen. 

One  class  ov/ns  all  the  land  and  tools  of  production,  the  other 
class  possesses  nothing  except  its  labor  power.  These  are  the  two 
principal  classes  of  modern  society.* 

*  We  must|here  make  mention  of  another  class,  the  Middle  Class,  or  Petty  Burgeois  But 
it  is  a  class  that  is  slo.vly  dying  out,  as  it  does  not  possess  sufficient  capital  to  compete  with 
the  large  capitalists.  This  class  is  on  the  point  of  bankruptcy,  and  a  great  part  of  it/ will  nat- 
urally join  the  ranks  of  the  workingmen,  while  the  rest  will  remain  on  the  side  of  the 
capitalists. 


These  two  classes  of  modern  society  are  products  of  only  the 
modern  system  of  production ;  for,  we  find  that  under  that  form  of 
society  which  w^as  based  upon  a  military  tenure  of  land  and  is  known 
as  "  Feudalism,  "  the  social  classes  were  different  from  what  they 
are  at  present.  In  Ancient  History,  we  find  a  still  greater  distinc- 
tion between  the  social  classes  of  those  days  and  the  social  classes  of 
to-day. 

Therefore,  the  question  arises  here  :  Whence  come  the  capital- 
ists and  workingmen  with  their  class  antagonisms  ? 

To  answer  this  question  thoroughly,  we  must  trace  up  from 
the  beginning  the  present  system  of  production,  where  we  will  dis- 
cover the  birth  and  development  of  the  social  classes  of  the  capitalist 
regime. 

The  time  of  the  discovery  of  America  dates  the  beginning  of  the 
capitalist  regime.  The  discovery  of  new  lands  and  markets  stimu- 
lated Europe  to  such  an  activity  which  resulted  in  the  downfall  of 
the  Feudal  institutions  and  the  organization  of  modern  society. 
New  forces  and  new  influences  began  to  work,  and  the  growth  of 
the  cities  together  with  the  revival  or  rather  beginning  of  commercial 
activity,  were  signs  of  a  new  era,  which  meant  death  to  the  Feudal 
aristocracy  and  the  emancipation  of  the  Serfs. 

The  Feudal  lord,  whose  function  was  the  protection  of  his  vas- 
sals, was  now  no  longer  useful.  The  days  of  barbarian  invasions 
were  over;  the  days  of  Feudal  anarchy  were  gone,  and  a  new  age  had 
already  begun — the  birth  of  the  capitalistic  mode  of  production  and 
distribution. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  capitalistic  mode  of  production  there 
also  began  to  develop  a  new  division  of  the  social  classes  in  society- 
Capitalists  and  Workingmen.  The  capitalist  was  the  enterprising 
man  who  furnished  the  tools  with  which  to  produce,  while  the  work- 
ing man  furnished  the  labor  power,  without  which  nothing  can  be 
produced.  This  "unity  of  action  "  between  the  capitalist  and 
workingman  was  based  on  freedom  (?)  of  contract.  The  working- 
man  agreed  to  work  for  wages,  while  the  rest  of  the  produce — the 
excess  of  production  above  wages — was  usually  appropriated  by  the 
capitalist.  It  must  be  stated  here  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  present 
system,  the  contrast  between  employers  and  employees  was  not  very 
great. 

Little  by  little,  the  bulk  of  the  employer's  capital  increased 
steadily ;  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  were  ages  of  inven- 
tions and  discoveries,  and  this  gave  an  opportunity  to  the  richer 
employers  to  invest  their  capital.  The  process  of  production  on  a 
small  scale  was  continued  for  a  long  time;  but  the  time  came  when 
the  spinning  wheel  was  replaced  by  the  spinning  machine,  the  hand 
loom  by  the  mechanical  loom,  the  small  workshop  by  the  large 
factory,  and  at  last  appeared  steam,  the  greatest  revolutionizer  of 
the  system  of  production  on  a  small  scale. 


8 

These  inventions  meant  one  thing, — the  prosperity  of  the  civi- 
lized countries  and  the  increase  of  material  wealth.  But,  by  saying 
the  prosperity  of  the  civilized  countries,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  it  resulted  in  the  prosperity  of  those  who  lived  in  those  coun- 
tries. On  the  contrary,  the  great  bulk  of  the  people  became  poorer 
every  time  a  new  invention  was  introduced,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
every  new  machine  multiplied  tenfold  the  productivity  of  labor.  The 
ones  who  derived  the  whole  benefit  from  the  introduction  of  labor-sav- 
ing machinery  were  those  who  owned  the  countries  and  all  the  tools  of 
production — the  capitalists.  For  those  who  did  not  own  any  capi- 
tal, the  introduction  of  machinery  meant  the  displacement  of  more 
and  more  of  their  number  by  a  few  machine  laborers.  And  as  more 
and  more  men  began  to  be  displaced  by  the  increase  of  machinery, 
sharper  became  the  competition  between  the  workers  for  employ- 
ment, which  in  turn  meant  lower  wages  for  those  who  were  employed. 

Competition  between  the  capitalists  themselves  in  the  market 
resulted  in  the  bankurptcy  of  many  smaller  capitalists,  who  in  turn 
became  members  of  those  who  were  toolless,  the  working  class;  thus 
increasing  further  the  number  of  those  who  had  to  depend  for  a  liv- 
ing on  some  individual  capitalist. 

The  increase  of  wealth  for  the  few,  therefore,  meant  the  increase 
of  poverty,  ignorance,  degredation  and  slavery  for  the  many. 
Prosperity  for  one  class  of  people,  misery  for  another;  and  so  it  went 
on  until  the  present  moment,  when  all  the  wealth  of  the  civilized 
world  is  concentrated  in  a  few  hands,  while  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  are  suffering  for  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 

We  speak  here  of  the  civilized  world,  because  commercial 
activity  broke  down  all  boundaries  between  the  civilized  nations. 
The  same  causes  in  various  countries  produced  the  same  effects. 
One  and  the  same  cause  made  of  the  French  ouvrier,  German 
Arbeiter,  Russian  rabSnik,  English  workingman,  and  American 
"  soverign  "  slaves,  and  as  a  body  possessing  this  single  character- 
istic, they  now  stand  solidly  united  and  threaten  to  overthrow  this 
system,  which  is  the  direct  cause  of  their  miser3^ 

Under  all  systems,  whether  it  be  one  of  slavery,  serfdom  or 
wage-slavery,  society  reaches  a  point  of  development  when  it  be- 
comes impossible  for  the  old  social  order  to  exist  any  longer.  When 
that  stage  of  development  is  reached,  there  is  always  a  tendency 
toward  a  new  social  arrangement  of  society. 

We  should  show  great  ignorance  of  historic  evolution,  if  we 
were  only  to  condemn  the  capitalist  mode  of  production,  for  every 
system  has  its  merits.  At  first,  the  capitalist  had  a  great  function 
in  production,  for  which  he  received  everything  above  the  wages 
that  he  paid  out  to  the  workingman.  Then  the  capitalist  was  an  in- 
dispensable factor  in  production.  Private  enterprise  and  competition 
were  necessary  to  develop  modern  society  with  its  classes  and  their 


9 

antagonisms;  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  make  great  strides  in 
material  progress. 

All  this  was  well  and  good  so  long  as  the  capitalist  had  a  certain 
function  in  production;  but  the  present  mode  of  production  reached 
a  point  of  development  depriving  the  capitalist  of  all  function.  This 
is  at  the  period  when  machinery  is  so  developed,  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible for  individual  capitalists  to  engage  in  any  private  enterprise ; 
the  period  when  those  elements  as  trusts  and  corporations  are  called 
into  existence.  The  birth  of  trusts  and  corporations  are  signs  that 
the  present  system  of  production  has  reached  its  highest  point  of 
development,  and  that  the  capitalist  has  no  longer  any  function  in 
social  production,  except  that  of  pocketing  his  profits  and  spending 
it  on  luxuries.  '  'The  capitalist  class  shows  itself  to  be  superfluous;  all 
its  social  functions  are  filled  by  hired  employees.  " 

The  formation  of  trusts  being  a  necessary  consequence  of  capi- 
talist production,  is  also  a  sign  of  material  progress.  But  it  is  the 
highest  development  of  capitalist  production  and  we  cannot  make 
any  further  progress  until  the  foundation  upon  which  rests  capitalist 
production  is  changed. 

We  will  now  quote  a  great  authority  on  this  subject,  that 
brilliant  '!k)cialist  of  the  United  States,  Daniel  DeLeon,  who  says  : 

*'  So  long  as  the  tool  is  slight  and  simple,  he  who  wants  it  can 
readily  bring  it  forth  by  the  direct  application  of  his  labor  to 
nature,  and  thereby  place  himself  on  a  par  with  whomsoever 
already  is  in  possession  of  its  equal.  But  the  tool  develops.  Its  de- 
velopment is  not  from  within,  like  organic  matter.  The  feature  of 
its  development  is  the  need  and  increasing  need  of  other  tools,  be- 
sides increased  powers  of  steam  and  electricity,  to  carve  it  out  of 
nature  with,  and  thus  render  it  more  potent  by  rendering  it  more 
fruitful.  The  tool  used  in  production  presently  needs  two,  three, 
four  other  tools  to  bring  it  forth.  Even  then  its  acquisition  by  in- 
dividual man,  to  the  end  of  enabling  him  to  compete  with  those 
already  in  possession  of  its  like,  may  not  be  impossible,  though  the 
process  becomes  harder  by  degrees.  When,  however,  the  tool  has 
finally  reached  that  individual  perfection  of  a  Northrop  loom,  a 
Mergenthaler  typesetter,  a  hydraulic  press,  a  steam  plow,  reaper 
and  binder,  a  Westinghouse  electric  engine,  a  cotton  harvester,  etc., 
and  even  long  before  that,  none  can  any  longer  conjure  forth  its 
equal  out  of  nature.  When  to  this  individual  growth  is  coupled  the 
collective  development  or  concentration  implied  in  the  trust,  free 
competition  ceases  de  facto,    whatever  it  may  remain  in  theory. 

'  *  The  trust  is  the  highest  form  of  collective  development  the 
tool  can  reach  under  the  system  of  private  ownership  in  the  machin- 
ery of  production.  But  the  gigantic  powers  it  wields  over  nature 
accrue  to  those  only  who  hold  it;  to  all  others  it  becomes  a  scourge. 
As  such,  the  trust  blocks  the  nation's  path  on  its  march  to  civili- 
zation. "  ^     ^       ^       ^       ^       ^ 


lO 

One  of  the  chief  foundations  upon  which  the  capitalistic  insti- 
tutions rest  is  the  wage-system.  To  the  ignorant  workers  there 
seems  to  be  nothing  wrong  in  it,  inasmuch  as  they  have  been  assured 
many  a  time  by  the  mental  prostitutes  of  present  society — econo- 
mists, journalists,  preachers,  politicians,  etc. — that  the  wage-system 
rests  on  the  moral  principle  of  "freedom  of  contract."  But  this 
principle  of  "freedom  of  contract"  is  but  another  way  of  robbing 
the  workers  of  their  produce.     It  is  a  snare  and  a  delusion. 

When  speaking  of  freedom  of  contract  we  understand  by  it  to 
mean  that'  both  parties  are  free,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  w^ord,  to 
either  sign  the  contract  or  refuse.  But  in  its  practical  application 
to  the  present  system,  we  see  that  only  one  party — the  capitalists  who 
own  all  the  tools  necessary  for  production — is  free  to  sign  the  contract 
or  refuse,  while  the  other  party — the  workingmen  who  are  home- 
less— MUST  sign  it.  They  dare  not  refuse,  lest  they  should  suffer 
starvation  and  see  their  little  ones  die  for  want  of  a  piece  of  bread. 
The  workingmen  are  compelled  to  work  for  the  wages  that  their 
masters  choose  to  give,  as  it  is  upon  the  caprice  of  the  employer 
that  their  existence  depends. 

Besides  the  absurdity  of  the  assertion  that  wages  is  based  on 
freedom  of  contract,  a  little  further  investigation  will  deinonstrate 
the  indisputable  fact  that  the  modern  wage-system  is  the  chief  source 
-of  all  the  anarchy  that  reigns  supreme  in  the  present  system  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution. 

According  to  the  latest  report  (1890)  of  Carrol  D.  Wright,  Na- 
tional lyabor  Statistician  of  the  United  States,  the  value  of  the  gross 
product  per  capita  for  the  number  of  employees  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing and  mechanical  industries  was  $2,204,  and  the  average 
annual  wages  per  employee  was  $445.  In  plain  language,  this 
means  that  out  of  the  total  produce  the  laborers  receive  only  20.18 
per  cent,  while  the  other  79.82  per  cent  is  given  away  to  those  who 
furnish  the  tools  of  production. 

"  From  the  amount  produced  there  is  only  so  much  taken  and 
divided  among  the  producers  as  will  tolerably  support  life  (wages) ; 
all  over  and  above  goes  to  the  employer  (capital)."* 

It  is  self-evident,  then,  that  when  labor  receives  only  $445  worth 
of  products  out  of  a  total  of  $2,204,  which  it  has  produced,  a  sur- 
plus value  of  $1,759  must  remain  unsold,  as  labor  cannot  buy  with 
its  one-fifth  of  the  produce  (wagesj  the  other  four-fifths  (surplus 
value). 

The  capitalists  must  sell  the  surplus  value  which  they  appro- 
priate, as  they  are  not  doing  business  for  the  love  of  the  laborers 
but  for  what  is  in  it — profit.  But,  although  anxious  to  dispose  of 
it,  the  workingmen,  who  are  the  majority  of  the  people,  cannot  buy 
it  from  them,  for  lack  of  an  equivalent  in  value  which  must  always 

*  "Socialism!"  by  A.  J.  Starkweather  and  S.  Robert  Wilson. 


II 

be  paid  for  that  surplus.  What  must  the  capitalists  do  ?  They  look 
around  for  a  foreign  market,  and  find  it  somewhere  in  Asia  or  Africa 
where  the  inhabitants  are  still  in  the  stage  of  Savagery,  Barbarism 
or  semi-Civilization.  They  begin  to  send  out  their  tools — the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  cross— who  try  to  Christianize,  civilize,  and  also 
stimulate  the  wants  of  the  heathen  people  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  create  in  time  a  new  market  for  the  capitalists  of  the  country 
from  which  they  w^ere  sent.  * 

If  that  particular  place  happens  by  chance  to  be  a  good  market 
for  the  capitalists  to  dispose  of  all  their  surplus  value,  then  every  civil- 
ized country  will  make  an  effort  to  secure  that  market  for  the  wel- 
fare of  its  own  capitalists.  If  they  cannot  secure  it  peacefully,  they 
can  always  afford  to  sacrifice  several  thousands  of  their  unemployed 
who  by  constant  starvation  have  been  trained  by  their  masters  to 
be  able  to  digest — lead,  or  serve  as  a  good  diet  for  the  modern 
cannon. 

Very  few  workingmen  are  perhaps  aware  of  the  fact  that  all  the 
wars  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  the  result  of  the  capitalistic 
mode  of  production  and  distribution.  Prince  Pierre  Kropotkin,  in 
his  able  essay  on  "War,"  says  : 

"  In  Russia  as  in  England,  in  Germany  as  in  France,  men  fight 
no  longer  for  the  good  pleasure  of  kings  :  they  fight  to  guarantee 
the  incomes  and  augment  the  possessions  of  Their  Financial  High- 
nesses, Messrs.  Rothschild,  Schneider  &  Co.,  and  to  fatten  the  lords 
of  the  money  market  and  the  factory.  The  rivalries  of  kings  has 
been  supplanted  by  the  rivalries  of  burgeois  cliques." 

In  another  part  of  the  same  essay  he  says  : 

"The  opening  of  new  markets,  the  forcing  of  products,  good 
and  bad,  upon  the  stranger,  is  the  principle  underlying  all  the  poli- 
tics of  the  present  day  throughout  our  continent,  is  the  real  cause  of 
the  wars  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

As  we  see,  all  the  wars  of  the  present  time  are  undertaken  for 
the  reason  that  the  capitalists  of  every  modern  developed  country 
have  a  surplus  value  for  which  they  seek  a  market  to  dispose  of.  The 
nations  at  the  present  time,  no  longer  fight  for  more  territory,  but 
for  more  new  markets. 

But  these  markets  are  limited  in  number,  while  the  number  of 
competing  capitalists  is  quite  unlimited.  Therefore,  the  result  fol- 
lows, that  only  a  small  number  of  the  capitalists  can  sell  their  sur- 


♦  The  following  is  a  good  example  of  the  doings  of  our  brave  missionaries  of  the  cross  in 
the  undeveloped  countries.  Anagarika  H.  Dharmapala,  representative  of  the  Buddhists  at 
the  Parliament  of  Religions,  in  speaking  recently  before  a  San  Francisco  audience  about  the 
Christians  in  India,  said  :  "They  teach  the  ignorant  people  that  their  sins  will  be  washed 
away,  and,  gladly  accepting  this  teaching,  these  ignorant  ones  become  drunken  and  given 
to  other  evils. 

"  Hearing  of  the  glories  of  the  Western*  civilization,  the  Indian  people  assume  Christian- 
ity, the  garments  of  the  European  and  the  whisky  of  the  European,  and  believe  themselves 
civilized.  The  young  women  impoverish  their  parents  by  buying  bonnets  and  gowns  such  as 
English  women  wear.  The  British  merchants  import  liquor  into  Burmah  and  other  places 
where  liquor  has  been  unknown,  and  the  missionaries  make  no  protest." 


12 

plus  value,  while  the  same  prospect  for  the  rest  of  them  grows 
smaller  every  time.  Meanwhile  millions  of  laborers  are  continually 
producing  more  and  more  goods  for  starving  wages,  the  bulk  of  the 
unsold  surplus  value  of  the  majority  of  capitalists  grows  bigger  and 
bigger,  until  the  capitalists  begin  to  doubt  their  possibility  of  ever 
selling  their  surplus.  They  determine  not  to  invest  any  more  cap- 
ital until  they  will  dispose  of  all  their  surplus  value,  and  a  crisis  be- 
comes inevitable. 

''Commerce  is  blocked  ;  the  markets  are  overstocked  ;  the  pro- 
ducts lie  there  as  plentiful  as  undisposable  ;  cash  becomes  invisible ; 
credit  disappears  ;  the  factories  stand  still  ;  the  working  masses  are 
in  want  of  food,  because  they  have  produced  too  much  of  it ;  failure 
follows  upon  failure,  and  sheriff's  sale  upon  sheriff's  sale."  "^^ 

This  paralyzing  of  the  industries  lasts  for  a  long  time,  and  not 
until  the  accummulated  surplus  value  runs  out  at  more  or  less  depre- 
ciated values  are  the  factories,  shops,  mills,  etc.,  again  set  in  mo- 
tion. For  awhile,  it  goes  on  undisturbed  till  it  reaches  the  next 
panic,  caused  by  the  very  same  conditions. 

Ivaurence  Grounland,  speaking  on  this  subject  in  his  "Co-oper- 
ative Commonwealth,"  says  : 

"  In  former  periods,  Society  was  tormented  with  plagues,  caused, 
as  we  now  know,  by  ignorance  and  consequent  violation  of  the  laws 
of  health.  Our  era  is  cursed  with  Crises,  occurring  far  more  fre- 
quently than  plagues  and  causing  with  each  6ccurrence  as  much 
misery." 

Not  only  are  these  crises  a  nuisance  and  danger  to  the  welfare 
of  any  society — it  also  serves  as  a  protest  against  the  present  plan- 
less system  of  production  and  distribution.  It  exposes  the  greatest 
contradiction  in  our  system  of  production  and  distribution. 

What  we  mean  by  it,  is  this  :  At  present  the  individual  capital- 
ist appropriates  surplus  value  produced — by  whom  ?  Surely,  not  by 
the  capitalists.  Surplus  value  is  produced  by  laborers— not  by  any 
particular  individual  laborer,  but  by  laborers  working  together. 
The  development  of  machinery  destroyed  the  greatest  number  of 
small  shops  and  with  it  the  small  proprietors,  and  concentrated  them 
under  one  roof,  as  the  modern  factory,  etc.  Therefore,  everything 
that  is  at  present  produced  is  a  social  (collective)  production,  the 
result  of  the  exertion  of  many  laborers.  But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
we  produce  everything  at  present  socially  (collectively),  it  is,  never- 
theless, appropriated  by  the  individual  capitalist.  The  individual 
capitalist  appropriates  everything  that  the  workers  produce  collec- 
tively. 

Some  capitalists  cannot  see  how  they  can  be  accused  of  appro- 
priating everything,  when  a  portion  of  the  produce  is  paid  out  to 
the  laborers  in  the  form  of  wages.     But  the  wages  paid  out  to  the 


*  "The  Deirelopment  of  Socialism  from  Utopia  to  Science,"  by  Frederick  Engels. 


^3 

worlcers  is  an  amount  barely  sufficient  to  keep  their  bodies  alive,  and 
that  much  is  needed  by  the  laborers  in  order  to  be  able  to  work 
again  on  the  next  day.  The  rest — the  joint  produce  of  many  labor- 
ers—is appropriated  by  the  individual  capitalist.  Hence,  the  con- 
tradiction is  :  Social  (collective)  production,  individual  appropria- 
tion, with  crises  as  a  result.  The  crises  deniojistrate  the  fact  that  the 
rapid  expansion  df  prodnctioyi  can  no  longer  be  well  controlled  by 
present  society ^  which  rests  on  the  foundatioyi  of  private  ozvnership  in 
the  means  of  prodiiction  and  distribution. 

The  present  system  has  already  reached  the  highest  point  of 
development.  The  ruling  class — the  capitalists — are  making  a  strong 
effort  to  preserve  it  as  a  permanent  institution,  which  is  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  evolution.  It  is  they  who  were  most  instrumental  in 
developing  the  present  system,  and  it  is  the  present  fully  developed 
system  that  informs  us  of  the  uselessness  of  the  capitalist  class.  The 
capitalist  class  has  outlived  its  usefulness,  and  the  crises  and  all  the 
other  contradictions  that  exist  at  the  present  moment  are  the  precur- 
sory symptoms  of  decaying  institutions. 

We  are  witnessing  the  last  days  of  a  dying  system  ;  the  present 
moment  is  an  age  of  transition,  hence  the  anarchy  and  confusion 
that  prevail.  The  narrow-mindedness  of  a  great  many  people  pre- 
vent them  from  seeing  this,  but  as  the  dark  clouds  gather  on  the 
extreme  verge  of  the  horizon  announcing  the  storm,  they  roll  them- 
selves into  a  mass,  and  burst  with  terrific  force,  sweeping  awa^^  with 
it  all  those  who  dare  to  hinder  its  natural  course. 

The  institutions  of  the  present  time  must  fall  to  pieces,  dragging 
society  with  it  down  into  the  terrible  abyss,  unless  stronger  forces 
and  agencies  will  timely  prevent  its  destruction  and  build  up  a 
healthy  and  san-  society,  by  putting  it  on  a  stronger  foundation 
than  it  exists  to-day.  Undoubtedly  this  seems  to  be  the  inevitable 
fate  of  present  society. 

What  must  we  do  ?     Must  we  resign   ourselves  to  that  appar- 
ently inevitable  fate  which  means  our  destruction    and  the   destruc- 
tion of  everything  that  has  taken  us  ages  to  build,  or  must  we  con- 
tinue the  attempt  to  cure  society  of  its  evils  by  various  reforms  ? 
•  Emphatically,  we  must  answer,  no  !  A  thousand  times,  no  ! 

To  allow  ourselves  to  be  pulled  down  into  the  abyss  of  destruc- 
tion would  be  base  cowardice  ;  to  attempt  to  cure  social  evils  through 
moral  sentiments  would  show  gross  ignorance  of  the  laws  that  gov- 
ern human  progress. 

How,  then,  shall  we  extricate  ourselves  from  the  present  confu- 
sion which  tends  to  involve  us  all  in  one  common  ruin  ? 

The  only  way  to  iremedy  the  evils  of  society  and  thus  save  it 
from  destruction,  is  by  tracing  out  the  road  by  which  the  two  antag- 
onistic classes  of  present  society — capitalists  and  workingmen— -came 
into=  existence,  and  discover  in   the   situation    itself,  brought  on  by 


14 

these  two  classes,  the  means  whereby  to  put  an  end  to  the  conflict 
^his  course  will  directly  lead  us  to  the  solution  of  the  life  problem 
of  to-day.  / 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  capitalist  class  has  developed, 
and  how  it  has  outlived  its  usefulness.  The  proletarian  class*  grew 
side  by  side  with  the  growth  of  the  present  mode  of  production,  and 
by  the  time  when  capitalist  piroduction — the  present  mode  of  pro- 
duction— 1  cached  its  highest  point,  already  the  majority  of  the  pop- 
ulation became  members  of  that  hopeless  class. 

The  crises  and  the  formation  of  trusts  and  corporations  are  the 
result  of  the  mature  development  of  these  two  classes,  Capitalists 
and  Workingmen  ;  and  so  long  as  the  proletariat  continues  to  re- 
ceive a  starving  wage  and  the  rest  is  appropriated  by  the  capitalist, 
crises  must  be  of  periodical  occurrence,  followed  by  more  and  more 
anarchy  and  confusion  every  time. 

In  order  to  do  away  with  these  crises,  we  must  see  that  the 
laborers  should  receive  the  full  value  of  their  labor.  If  the  laborers 
were  to  receive  all  they  produce,  then  no  surplus  value  would  remain 
to  be  appropriated  by  the  capitalists.  If  no  surplus  value  were  to 
be  appropriated  by  the  capitalists,  then  this  would  prevent  an  idle 
class  from  living  on  the  labor  of  others,  and  it  would  compel  them 
to  go  to  work  if  they  wanted  to  live.  If  all  men  were  to  work,  and 
those  who  do  work  receive  the  full  fruits  of  their  labor,  then  all  the 
poverty  and  social  anarchy  that  surround  us  to-day  would  vanish 
from  earth.  Misery,  starvation,  and  degradation  would  be  things  of 
the  past. 

But  it  is  imp)ossible  for  the  workers  to  receive  the  full  fruits  of 
their  labor,  so  long  as  the  land  and  the  tools — the  essential  things 
for  the  production  of  necessaries — are  owned  by  a  few  private  indi- 
viduals, who  are  thus  enabled  to  live  on  the  labor  of  others.  If  the 
men  who  own  the  implements  of  production  were  to  give  to  the 
workers  all  they  produce,  then  nothing  will  be  left  for  themselves. 
They  must  live  in  luxury  rnf"  idleness  out  of  the  surplus  value, 
therefore  they  would  not  consent  to  give  the  implements  of  produc- 
tion if  they  w2re  not  to  receive  the  major  part  of  the  produce. 

How  shall  we  solve  this  problem  ? 

There  is  a  way  by  which  this  can  be  solved,  and  it  is  this  : 
That  the  land  and  all  the  implements  of  production  which  are  owned 
to-day  by  private  individuals,  who  run  it  for  their  own  and  selfish 
benefit  (regardless  of  the  injury  that  accrues  to  society  from  it), 
should  be  turned  over  into  the  hands  of  the  workers,  who  should 
own  it  in  their  collective  capacity  and  run  it  for  the  benefit  of  all, 
instead  of  it  being:  run  for  the  benefit  of  a.  few. 


*  By  proletariat  we  mean  the  class  of  modern  wage-workers  who,  havitig-cro  means  of 
productaonjof  theinown,  are  reduccsitOj9elling.thein  laboivpctmer  infc.<?tder'to,li»iei  ,9'4ilrK>  in- 
cludes professional  men. 


We  have  seen  how  the  crises  which  are  the  resuU  of  our  mod- 
ern wage-system  represented  one  of  the  greatest  contradictions  in 
present  society,  namely,  the  social  character  of  our  system  of  pro- 
duction and  the  individual  character  of  our  system  of  appropriation. 
The  only  way  to  put  an  end  to  the  anarchy  which  is  the  result  of 
this  contradiction  between  our  system  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion, is  by  harmonizing  the  two  principal  branches  of  Political  Econ- 
omy— Production  and  Distribution.  But  these  two  branches  of  Po- 
litical Economy  cannot  be  harmonized,  until  the  land  and  all  the 
tools  of  production  will  be  the  joint  property  of  all.  To  do  away 
with  our  panics,  and  misery,  degradation  and  starvation  which  result 
therefrom,  we  must  see  that  the  laborers  receive  the  full  value  of 
their  labor.  But  the  laborers  cannot  receive  the  full  value  of  their 
labor,  so  long  as  all  the  tools  of  production  are  not  the  property  of 
the  whole  of  society. 

That  we  are  nearing  the  point  where  society  will  take  hold  of 
the  tools  of  production  and  make  it  the  common  property  of  all  its 
members,  there  is  not  the  least  doubt.  As  the  proletariat  increases 
in  number,  as  competition  between  their  own  class  becomes  sharper 
for  an  opportunity  to  earn  a  livelihood,  as  wages  fall  below  the 
natural  limit,  and  as  the  suifering  of  this  class  increases  more  and 
more,  then  class  distinction  between  them  and  the  capitalists  1  ecomes 
more  marked.  They  then  begin  to  understand  that  their  interest 
lies  in  the  united  action  of  their  own  class,  and  become  class-con- 
scious. They  discover  that  private  ownership  in  the  means  of  pro- 
duction is  the  cause  of  all  their  miseries  ;  and  at  last,  their  class- 
consciousness,  their  class  interest,  together  with  their  wretched  con- 
dition, compel  them  to  rise  and  overthrow  the  existing  social  and 
political  institutions,  and  establish  a  system  which  should  be  in 
liarmony  with  the  industrial  development  of  modern  times  ;  a  sys- 
tem of  collective  ownership  in  the  means  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion, which  is 

SOCIALISM. 
"To-day,"  says  Karl  Kautzky,  "there  is  no  longer  any  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  or  not  the  system  of  private  ownership  in  the 
means  of  production  shall  be  maintained.  Its  downfall  is  certain. 
The  only  question  to  be  answered  is  this  :  Shall  the  system  of  pri- 
vate ownership  in  the  means  of  production  be  allowed  to  pull  sbeiety 
down  into  the  abyss  ;  or  shall  society  shake  off  that  baneful  burden, 
■  place  the  land  and  the  implements  of  production  in  the  hands  of  the 
people,  to  be  operated  collectively,  for  use  and  not  for  profit,  and 
then,  free  and  refreshed,  resume  the  path  of  progress,  which  the  evo- 
lutionary law  prescribes  to  it  ? 

"Such  is  th^e  question  and'  such  the  alternative.  Our  genera- 
tion stands  where  the  roads  fork.  One  path  leads,  through  ruin, 
back  to  barbarism  ;  the  other  leads  onward  to  the  Co-opferative'Gom- 
^MjBweakh-'^-Sociaiism.  - 


v^ 


1 6 


■  rojr  -■  ■ 


-■-^  ■^.'^?^t> 


tiiic 


) 


"Ah  I  this  society  is  false.  One  day  and  soon,  the  true  society  will 
come.  Then  there  will  be  no  more  lords  ;  there  will  be  free  living  men. 
There  will  be  no  more  wealth,  there  will  be  aboundance  for  the  poor 
There  will  be  no  more  maisters,  bat  there  will  be  brothers.  They  that 
toil  shall  have.  This  is  the  future.  No  more  prostration,  no  more 
abasement,  no  more  ignorance,  no  more  wealth,  no  more  beasts  of 
burden,  no  more  coustiers,  no  more  kings,  but  light."— ^ic/or  Hui^o. 

"  The  great  appear  great  to  us,  only  because  we  are  on  our  knees — 
let  us  rise!  "—T/iotoiifne  d' Eericou%t. 


What  is  Socialism  ?  A  theory  of  social  organization  in  which 
the  industries  will  be  organized  on  a  national  or  international  basis 
of  collective  ov/nership,  operated  and  controlled  by  all  the  members 
of  society.  ^ 

The  principal  aim  of  Socialism  is  to  replace  the  present  com- 
i/^  petitive  system  of  production  and  distribution,  by  a  system  of  col- 
lective ownership  in  the  means  of  production  and  distribution  of  the 
products. 

As  there  are  so  many  people  who  are  confused  on  some  of  the 
principles  of  Socialism,  it  would  be  proper  to  state  here  that  only 
that  part  of  wealth  which  is  necessary  in  the  production  of  more 
wealth  and  is  called  "  capital,"  will  be  made  the  collective  property  of 
societ3\  under  socialism  ;  all  things  which  are  for  personal  use  will 
still  remain  private  propertj^ — the  propert}^  of  the  individual. 

In  order  to  prove  the  correctness  of  our  argument  on  this  point, 

we  can   do  no  better  than    by  quoting  Karl   Marx   and  Frederick 

Engels,  the  two  greatest  authorities  on  modern  socialism.     In   the 

*  Manifesto,"  which  was  written  by  these  two  intellectual  giants  of 

the  Nineteenth  century,  in  1848,  it  says  : 

"  We  by  no  means  intend  to  abolish  this  personal  appropriation 
of  labor,  an  appropriation  that  is  made  for  the  maintenance  and  re* 
production  of  human  life,  and  that  leaves  no  surplus  wherewith  to 
command  the  labor  of  others.  All  that  we  want  to  do  away  with,  is 
the  miserable  character  of  this  appropriation,  under  which  the 
laborer  lives  merely  to  increase  capital,  and  is  allowed  to  live  only 
in  so  far  as  the  interest  of  the  ruling  class  requires  it." 

In  another  part  of  this  historical  document,  it  says  : 

**  Modern  Socialism  deprives  no  man  of  the  power  to  appropriate 
the  products  of  society  ;  all  that  it  does  is  to  deprive  him  of  the- 
power  to  subjugate  the  labor  of  others  by  means  of .  such  appropri- 
ation." 


17 

.  The  reorganization  of  the  industries  on  a  co-operative  basis  will 
dissolve  all  distinctions  between  the  different  classes  that  constituted 
society  until  the  present  day.  For  the  first  time,  since  written  his- 
tory, society  will  be  composed  of  free  and  equal  men. 

The  establishment  of  socialism  will  inaugurate  a  system  of  ma- 
terial equality,  and  each  man  who  contributes  his  share  of  work  will 
receive  afad  enjoy  the  full  fruits  of  his  labor  in  a  way  to  suit  him- 
self. Then,  there  will  be  an  equal  opportunity  for  all  to  work  and 
enjoy  life  as  it  becomes  civilized  human  beings. 

As  under  socialism,  all  the  things  with  which  we  produce  will 
be  the  property  of  society,  therefore,  he  who  will  work  will  employ 
himself,  and  all  benefits  that,  to-day,  are  reaped  from  civilization  by 
a  few  idle  capitalists,  will  be  then  enjoyed  by  all  the  members  of 
society. 

For  instance,  to-day,  when  a  machine  is  invented  and  adopted 
in  a  certain  branch  of  manufacturing,  then  it  means  that  a  certain 
number  of  the  former  workers  will  be  replaced  by  a  few  machine- 
laborers,  whose  wages  will  also  be  reduced  on  account  of  the  sharp 
competition  between  the  workers  the  introduction  of  the  machine 
gave  rise  to.  Under  socialism,  the  invention  or  the  improvement  of 
a  certain  labor-saving  machine  will  mean  the  shortening  of  the  hours 
of  labor  and  the  increase  of  the  portion  of  the  produce  that  each  man 
is  to  receive.  , 


As  under  socialism  all  who  want  to  live  will  have  to  work,  and 
as  the  hours  of  labor  will  be  reduced  in  proportion  to  the  progress 
of  machinery,  therefore  it  follows  that  the  average  working  hour 
will  be  then  about  two  hours  per  day,  the  rest  of  the  time  being  spent 
in  the  enjoyment  of  life.  *^ 

Speaking  on  this  subject,  Professor  Th.  Hertzka,  of  Vienna, 
Austria,  says  :  *'  I  have  calculated  how  much  labor  and  time  is  nec- 
essary with  the  aid  of  the  present  mechanical  appliances  to  produce 
what  is  required  to  support  in  ease  and  comfort  the  twenty-two  mil- 
lion inhabitants  of  Austria,  viz  :  food,  clothes  and  shelter,  consisting 
of  a  five-room  house  to  the  family,  and  including  fuel,  medicine,  fur- 
niture and  utensils.  I  find  that  it  would  require  twenty-six  million 
acres  of  arable  land  and  eight  million  acres  in  pasture,  or  about  i  ^ 
acres  per  capita,  and  615,000  workmen,  working  11  hours  per  day, 
300  days  in  the  year. 

"These  615,000  are  but  12.3  per  cent  of  the  population  able  to 
wqrk,  excluding  the  women,  children  below  16  years  of  age  and 
men  above  50  j^ears. 

'* If  instead  of  these  615,000  men,  the  whole  five  million  men  able 
to  work  were  engaged,  they  would  need  to  work  but  37  days  in  the 
year,  or  if  they  were  to  work  300  days  of  the  year,.^tliey  would  need 
to  work  only  i  Hour  and  22^  minutes  per  day.         ;v    ,v  .  ; 


xS 

"Again,  if  all  the  luxuries  of  life  were  included,  it  would  re- 
quire one  million  workmen,  or  20  per  cent  of  the  population  able  to 
work,  2  hours  and  12  minutes  per  day,  300  days  in  the  year.  With 
this  working  power  the  twenty-six  million  Austrians  would  be  sup- 
plied with  all  their  heart  could  possibly  desire. 

"  But  if,  again,  the  whole  five  million  men  were  employed  2 
hours  and  12  minutes  per  day,  they  would  need  to  work  two  months 
of  the  year  only.  Behold  what  time  could  be  spared  for  study  and 
pleasures,  while  the  cares  of  life,  in  so  far  as  wealth  is  concerned, 
would  be  obliterated  altogether." 
y^^  In  this  sense  the  aim  of  Socialism  may  be  summed  up  in  the 
xsi»gle  sentence  :     To  promote  the  happiness  of  the  human  race. 

There  are  many  who  consider  socialism  synonymous  with  an- 
/    archy ;  nihilism  and  civil  war.     They  do  not  know  that  socialism 
y      means  Order,  Law,  Peace  and  Happiness  for  all. 
/  Under  socialism  elementary  education  will  be  compulsory,  while 

*"  the  high  schools,  colleges,  universities  and  other  higher  branches  of 
-  study  will  be  free  to  all.  The  state  would  then  feel  itself  duty  bound 
to  support  all  those  who  are  physically  disabled,  and  they  will  be 
as  well  fed,  clothed,  sheltered  and  taken  care  of  as  if  the^^  were  the 
best  citizens  of  the  community, — that  will  be  Justice  !  When  the 
poor  or  the  physically  disabled  are  partly  taken  care  of  by  the  state 
under  the  present  system,  it  is  Charity  ! — Stealing  wholesale  and  giv- 
ing retail. 

The  government  under  socialism  will  be  a  fully  democratic  one. 
It  will  consist  of  various  industrial  managing  departments,  and  will 
be  known  as  the  Social  Democratic  State.* 

Under  socialism,  the  people  will  have  the  right  to  propose  laws 
and  to  vote  upon  all  measures  of  importance,  according  to  the  refer- 
endum principle.  By  the  people  we  mean  males  and  females,  with- 
out regard  to  color,  creed  or  sex. 

Socialism,  then,  is  not  Anarchism  ;  neither  is  it  Communism  ; 
nor  is  it  Municipal  Ownership  on  the  Glasgow  plan,  which  is  State 
Capitalism. 

Socialism  is  not  Populism,  which  is  a  reactionary  Middle- class 
movement ;  neither  is  it  Single  Taxism  ;  nor  does  it  propose  such 
quack  remedies  as  Prohibitionism. 

Socialism  means  the  collective  ownership  in  the  means  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution  on  a  national  or  international  basis  ;  that 
only,  and  nothing  else  ! 

Economic  evolution — the  tendency  of  the  present  industrial  devel- 
opmejit — points  to  the  establishment  of  socialism  as  the  next  stage  oj 
evolution  through  which  society  will  have  to  travel. 


♦"Social  Democratic  State— the  concrete  realization  of  Socialism.  Its  main  features  are  produc- 
tion for  use,  community  ownership  of  means  of  production,  distribution  and  exchange,  administered 
by  a  democratic  state  composed  of  all  adult  citizens."— Austin  Lewis. 


19 

But  we  must  not  imagine  that  because  certain  economic  forces 
are  at  work  tending  toward  the  establishment  of  socialism,  it  will 
come  of  itself.  By  no  means.  It  is  true  that  economic  forces  are 
tending  in  the  direction  of  socialism,  but  if  we  do  not  organize  our- 
selves in  time  to  become  a  powerful  agency  in  opposing  the  suicidal 
tendencies  of  the  capitalist  class,  ruin  will  follow.  The  ruling  class 
of  to-day  is  trying  to  withstand  and  ignore  these  new  economic  in- 
fluences, therefore,  destruction  to  the  whole  of  society  must  follow, 
if  another  class,  stronger  than  the  capitalists,  does  not  try  to  oppose 
them  and  organize  society  in  such  a  way  as  to  fit  itself  to  the  progress 
of  industrial  development. 

.  Which  shall  that  class  be — Capitalists  ?  It  is  against  their  in- 
terest to  establish  socialism. 

Shall  it  be  the  Middle-Class  ?  They  have  always  been  a  re- 
actionary class,  and  are  not  capable  of  undertaking  such  a  progres- 
sive movement. 

That  class  which  is  most  fitted  for  this  purpose  must  be  REVO- 
LUTIONARY, RECRUITED  OUT  OF  THE  RANKS  OF  THE 
MODERN  PROLETARIAT.  The  proletariat  is  the  only  one 
whose  historic  mission  is  to  undertake  this  task.  These  men  were 
called  into  existence  by  the  capitalistic  mode  of  production,  and  they 
are  going  to  put  an  end  to  it.  Their  class-interest,  being  in  direct 
opposition  to  that  of  the  capitalist  class,  demands  the  abolishment  of 
the  system  of  private  ownership  in  the  means  of  production  and  dis- 
tribution and  the  establishment  of  the  Co-operative  Common- 
wealth. 

Although,  under  socialism,  class-distinction  will  receive  its 
death-blow,  nevertheless,  the  establishment  of  socialism  must  come 
through,  the  class-struggle — the  struggle  and  final  victory  of  the  op- 
pressed wage-workingmen  over  the  privileged  capitalists.  The 
emancipation  of  the  proletariat  and  that  of  all  mankind  MUST  and 
WILL  be  accomplished  by  the  proletarians  themselves  ! 

This,  then,  is  a  class-struggle.  *  "  BUT  EVERY  CLASS- 
STRUGGLE  IS  A  POLITICAL  STRUGGLE."  Consequently, 
the  proletarians  must  fight  their  enemies  with  the  same  weapon  that 
enabled  the  capitalists  to  hold  their  supreme  power  until  no>v ;  it 
must  organize  itself  into  a  political  party,  based  on  the  class-con- 
sciousness of  the  proletariat. 

Such  a  political  partv,  based  on  these  lines,  is  in  existence  to- 
day ;  it  is  the  SOCIALIST  LABOR  PARTY. 


*  "Therefore,  we  say  once  more  this  is  a  class  war  ;  we  know  it  ;  we  are  preparing  for 
it;  we  rejoice  at  its  near  approach.  We  mean  to  breakdown  competition,  and  to  substitute 
universal  organization  and  co-operation.  There  lies  around  us  the  necessary  methods: 
they  need  but  to  be  applied."— The  Development  of  Socialism,  by  H.  M.  Hyndman  and 
Willianl  Morris. 


20 

The  great  social  revolution — the  day  when  the  proletarians  will 
cross  swords  with  their  enemies  on  the  political  battlefield — will  be 
the  pivot,  upon  which  present  society  will  move  into  the  new  system, 
and  that  day  is  not  far  off. 

.  On  the  European  Continent,  socialism  has  progressed  with  great 
rapidity.  In  Germany,  France,  Belgium,  and  Italy,  the  socialists  play 
a  prominent  part  in  present  politics,  and  nearly  in  every  country, 
where  capitalism  is  greatly  developed,  the  oppressed  proletarian 
class  already  stands,  solidly  united,  in  a  class-conscious  body  under 
the  universal  banner  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party. 

The  number  of  votes  polled  by  the  S.  L.  P.  in  the  various 
countries  at  the  last  election,  will  illustrate  its  strength  and  influence 
on  the  working-classes  in  general. 

-  ■  In  Germany,  the  socialists  polled  at  the  election  of  1893,  1,800,- 
000,  only  males  above  the  age  of  25  having  the  right  to  vote.  This 
number  represents  25  per  cent  of  the  entire  vote  in  Germany,  but 
as  they  have  not  the  system  of  proportional  representation  there, 
only  about  10  per  cent,  48  delegates,  were  elected  to  the  Reichstag, 
the  German  Parliament. 

The  socialists  are  the  best  disciplined  political  party  in  that 
country.  They  continually  carry  on  a  systematic  propaganda  among 
the  working-classes.  There  are  thirty -nine  Socialist  daily  newspa- 
pers and  a  great  number  of  weekly  papers,  monthly  magazines,  etc. 
It  is  estimated  by  some  of  the  greatest  German  authorities  that  by 
the  next  general  election  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  will  receive  about 
three  million  votes. 

The  French  socialists  come  next  in  numbers  to  the  Germans, 
having  polled  about  1,400,000  votes,  electing  55  representatives  to 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  French  Parliament.  Over  3,000  mu- 
nicipal bodies  are  controlled  by  the  socialists.  About  forty  Social- 
ist newspapers  are  credited  to  the  party  there,  nearly  all  of  them 
being  edited  by  the  mos:t  distinguished  men  of  Europe. 

In  Belgium,  the  voting  strength  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  is 
470,000,  out  of  a  total  of  1,100,000  votes  cast.  There  are  33  social- 
ists in  the  Belgian  Parliament,  and  the  press  of  that  country  con- 
templates a  majority  of  all  votes  cast  for  the  socialists  at  the  next 
election. 

Cut  of  a  little  over  a  total  vote  of  2,000,000,  the  socialists  of 
Italy  polled  96,000  votes,  electing  18  representatives  to  the  Italian 
Parliament.  The  reports  from  that  country  are  very  encouraging 
for  the  future. 

In  Switzerland,  the  Socialists  cast  100,000  votes,  while  in  the 
small  country  of  Denmark  the  Socialist  vote  is  26,000,  with  8  rep- 
resentatives in  the  Danish  Parliament. 

It  is  expected  that  at  the  next  general  election  in  England  the 
Socialists  will  receive  500,000  votes,  while  in  the  smaller  countries 


21 

of  Europe,  as  Holland,  Spain,  Greece,  the  Socialists  are  beginning 
to  organize  themselves  in  political  parties,  as  the  franchise  has  been 
withheld  until  now  from  the  workingmen. 

Not  until  recently  were  the  workingmen  enfranchised  in  Aus- 
tria. At  the  elections  which  were  held  in  that  country  several  weeks 
ago  (March,  1897,)  the  Socialists  polled  over  800,000  votes,  the  city 
of  Vienna  alone  giving  88,000  votes  to  the  Socialists.  Twenty  rep- 
resentatives were  elected  to  the  Austrian  Parliament,  and  the  social- 
ists rejoice  at  this  unexpected  victory. 

Not  only  are  the  socialists  active  on  the  European  Continent, 
but  also  on  the  African  and  American  Continents.  In  the  French 
colony  of  Algiers  there  is  an  active  propaganda  carried  on  by  social- 
ists, as  well  as  in  the  English  colonies  in  Africa. 

At  the  last  general  election  in  the  United  States  (1896),  the 
Socialist  Presidential  Ticket  polled  36,563  votes,  while  the  number 
of  votes  cast  for  municipal  officers  was  about  four  times  as  great. 
Taking  into,  consideration  the  great  reactionary  free- silver  move- 
ment, which  mislead  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  the  socialist 
vote  in  this  country  represents  a  solid  front  of  class-conscious  work- 
ingmen. 

In  Canada,  a  strong  Socialist  Labor  Party  is  now  being  formed, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  they  will  not  be  behind  in  standing  shoulder 
to  shoulder  with  their  fellow-workingmen  in  this  country. 

The  only  country  in  South  America  which  has  a  Socialist  Labor 
Party  organized  is  Argentine.  The  city  of  Buenos  Ay  res  has  a 
membership  of  about  15,000  socialists. 

In  the  United  States  (thanks  to  capitalist  misrepresentation), 
the  term  socialism  is  yet  unpopular  with  the  great  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple. Here,  socialism  is  considered  synonymous  with  anarchy,  and 
this  misconception  of  the  true  principles  of  socialism  accounts  for 
the  prejudiced  stand  the  people  often  take  against  the  socialists. 

Nevertheless,  the  socialists  in  the  United  States  are  gaining 
ground  steadily,  and  it  is  a  question  of  a  very  short  time  when 
Socialism  in  the  United  States  will  be  in  the  same  position  as  it  is 
on  the  European  Continent.  The  day  is  near,  when  the  American 
workingmen  will  rise  as  a  class-conscious  body,  and  vote  out  of  ex- 
istence a  system  which  makes  economic  slaves  of  them.  They  will 
do  it,  because  it  is  their  historic  mission. 

In  the  "Manifesto,"  issued  by  the  San  Francisco  section  of  the 
S.  L.  P.  (1896),  a  writer,  commenting  on  the  above  results  of  the 
Socialists'  activity  in  the  political  field,  says  : 

'  *  These  figures  and  facts  are  evidences  of  that  universality  and 
solidarity  of  which  mention  has  been  made.  They  show  that  so  tar 
from  being  a  temporary  fad.  Socialism  is  a  great  and  growing  force 
welding  together  great  masses  of  voters,  with  a  distinct  policy,  and 
the  liability  to  forward  and  advance  that  policy.     They  show  that 


22 

so  far  from  being  composed  of  a  body  of  irresponsible  dreamers  and 
cranks,  the  representatives  of  Socialism  are  proved  statesmen  and 
debaters,  overthrowing  governments,  keeping  their  party  organiza- 
tion intact,  and  always  gaining  point  after  point,  impressing  their 
ideas  upon  the  legislation  of  the  country  in  which  they  are  at  work. 
They  show,  too,  that  Socialists  are  constructive  as  well  as  revolu- 
tionary ;  that  they  understand  the  art  of  administering  municipali- 
ties with  whose  government  they  are  charged  ;  that  they  can, 
without  violent  disturbances,  or  the  upsetting  of  the  peace  of  the 
community,  infinitely  better  the  condition  of  the  proletarians  and 
establish  a  well  governed  community  where  formerly  was  a  police- 
ridden  and  capitalist-devoured  mob."  ' 

The  Socialists  have  chosen  the  political  field  as  their  battle 
ground,  the  only  place  where  the  workingmen  can  obtain  justice 
for  themselves,  their  wives,  their  children,  "and  their  fellow-men. 

That  the  Socialists  are  going  to  be  victorious  in  the  near  future, 
there  can  not  be  the  least  doubt.  AH  economic  forces  are  tending 
towards  that  direction,  and  all  facts  are  pointing  that  way.  We,  who 
are  living  to-day,  are  unconscious  of  what  is  going  on  around  us  ; 
we  cannot  imagine  how  rapidly  we  are  traveling  forwards,  continu- 
ally forwards.  But  the  day  will  come,  and  very  soon,  too,  when  we 
will  all  be  made  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  causes  which  are  silently 
working  now  ;  the  causes  which  certain  men,  in  spite  of  their  suffer- 
ings, are  absolutely  refusing  to  investigate. 

The  Socialist  Labor  Party  is  a  revolutionary  party.  The  mem- 
bers of  this  party,  being  conscious  of  the  real  conditions  that  sur- 
round them,  and  thoroughly  understanding  the  aim  and  object  of 
their  party,  are,  therefore,  uncompromising.  It  is,  to-day,  the  only 
party  in  the  civilized  world  that  aims  at  the  solidarity  of  the  toilers, 
therefore,  every  move  of  this  party  is  closely  watched  by  the  corrupt 
politicians — the  hirelings  of  capital. 

The  sound  principles  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  defy  its  im- 
potent-enemies,  w^ith  their  whole  band  of  hribed  economists  and 
learned  men,  who,  by  teaching  sophistries,  are  undermining  their 
own  foundation. 

"Our.  war  is  a  war  of  principle  against  principle.  Our  princi- 
ple is  a  moral  and  iriefutable  one,  while  the  capitalistic  principle  is 
utterly  wrong,  immoral  and  ruinous.  We  are,  therefore,  fully  con- 
vinced that  our  principle  must  be,  and  must  soon  be,  completely 
victorious." 

Workingmen  !  what  the  Socialists  demand  of  you,  is  simply 
this  :  When  you  go  to  the  polls  on  election  day,  you  shall  cast  your 
votes  for  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  the  only  party  that  with  every 
victory  on  the  political  battle-field,  strikes  terror  into  the  hearts  of 
those  who  feast  on  the  sweat  of  labor. 


23 

It  is  for  your  own  sake,  for  the  sake  of  youf  wives  and  children 
that  we  ask  you  to  do  this. 

Workingmen  !  We  are  nearing  the  day  of  the  next  great  and 
final  social  revolution.  LET  THE  CAPITALISTS  TREMBLE 
AT  ITS  APPROACH.  ''The  proletarians  have  nothing  to  lose 
but  their  chains.     They  have  a  world  to  win." 

Workingmen,  unite!  Organize!  Rally  around  the  universal 
banner  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party,  the  only  party  that  will  emanci- 
pate the  wage-workers  from  all  forms  of  slavery  throughout  the  civ- 
ilized world. 

Happiness  is  impossible  without  freedom.  Freedom  is  impossi- 
ble without  industrial  independence.  Would  you  rather  be  slaves, 
subject  to  the  caprice  of  a  master,  or  freemen — which  ?  If  you  choose 
the  former,  then  keep  on  voting  for  the  old  political  parties  ;  if  you 
choose  the  latter,  then  strike  for  Socialism. 

Wage-slaves  of  America  !  Socialism  is  your  religion  ;  THE 
BALLOT  IS  YOUR  WEAPON  ! 

ORGANIZE  !  !  ! 


Orders  for  this  pamphlet  may  be  addressed  to  William  Edlin, 
The  Temple y'*  115  Turk  Street,  San  Francisco. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL     FINE     OF     25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


OCT   18  J932 


'M 


SEP     3   1944 


IWNV' 


59S1I 


JULIO  2(03 


i 


LD  21-50m-8,'32 


Y;      ^     "-4 

U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


eyx^e 


NIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


